Drawing on years of human resources experience, the Davis School of Business professor prepares students for careers through practical lessons and professional connections
For nearly 15 years, Christi Sanders Via, DBA, has carried a small gold coin in her briefcase. It’s a reminder of a workplace experiment that changed how employees approached safety, and it’s become one of the many stories she shares with students at Colorado Mesa University’s Davis School of Business.
While working in human resources (HR) for a Texas city, Sanders Via was looking for ways to get supervisors to encourage employees to follow proper safety procedures. Then, she decided to try something different. She purchased small gold coins with messages on them that recognized employees as valuable members of the team. When she visited a job site and spotted someone following safety protocols, she handed them a coin.
At first, employees laughed off the idea, but before long, they started competing to earn the coins and gluing them to their hard hats “like tackle stickers on a football helmet.” According to Sanders Via, the workplace went without an accident during the initiative.
Years later, as an associate professor of human resource management at CMU, she still brings one of those coins into her classroom when she teaches the concept of employee incentives. While students pass it around, she explains how a simple recognition program changed employees’ behavior.
“Students say I teach in parables because I always have stories,” Sanders Via said.
Those stories draw on a career that has taken her through restaurant kitchens, municipal government and higher education. Before entering the world of human resources, she worked her way up to become an executive chef, regularly spending 80 to 90 hours a week in the restaurant industry. When she decided to pursue a different career, she took a position with a workforce development organization in Texas, where she began working with HR professionals.
The experience introduced her to the field and eventually led her to pursue a master’s degree in human resources from Tarleton State University. She went on to serve in HR leadership roles for two Texas cities, gaining firsthand experience navigating workplace challenges and working with employees.
“It’s a field where you constantly have to learn new things,” Sanders Via said.
While pursuing her doctorate in business administration from Walden University, Sanders Via began teaching part-time and discovered that she enjoyed sharing her professional experience with students. She eventually transitioned into full-time teaching, serving as business department chair at a university in Waxahachie, Texas, before joining CMU’s Davis School of Business in 2018.
At CMU, Sanders Via draws on her professional experience to develop courses that encourage students to think independently and apply what they learn to situations they may encounter in their careers. In her online recruitment and selection course, students complete several required assignments before choosing how to earn the remaining points. With approximately 30 additional assignments available, they can select projects based on their interests and manage their own deadlines.
“Students basically design their own course within that course shell,” she said.
Sanders Via views it as an opportunity for students to develop skills they’ll need after graduation.
Her interest in practical learning also extends to the textbooks and workbooks she writes. Her forthcoming Career and Workforce Readiness Workbook is designed to help students evaluate potential employers, understand their financial needs and determine what they want from their careers.
Sanders Via said she’s found that many students approaching graduation don’t know how much money they’ll need to support themselves or how to determine whether a potential employer is a good fit. The workbook encourages students to consider those questions before accepting a position.
She’s also developing a textbook titled That’s an HR Thing: A Year in the Life of Ellsworth Gardens, which follows a fictional family-owned orchard and winery in Palisade, Colorado. Through the experiences of the business and employees, readers encounter common human resources situations and learn how to approach them.
“I’m hoping to suck them in with the narrative kind of novel,” Sanders Via said.
An accompanying workbook will connect the scenarios to the academic concepts behind them, giving students another way to understand how human resources operates in a business setting.
Sanders Via has also worked to give students opportunities to earn professional credentials before graduation. Through partnerships with local human resources professionals and donors, she helped integrate Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) certification preparation into CMU’s human resources capstone course. The program allows students to prepare for a nationally recognized professional certification while completing their degrees.
The initiative has continued to grow since its introduction. This year, the initiative secured enough funding to cover students’ first certification exam fees, removing an additional expense for those pursuing the credential. So far, 26 students have completed the capstone course, with approximately eight going on to earn their certification. Students also retain access to the preparation materials for 18 months after graduation, allowing them additional time to study and take the exam.
“Of all the things that have happened at CMU, that’s the thing I’m most excited about,” said Sanders Via.
For students preparing to enter a competitive job market, Sanders Via believes earning a professional certification can help set them apart from other applicants.
“It opens doors,” she said. “If I’m a hiring manager and I’m looking at two HR people, and one of them already has their certification and one of them doesn’t, I’m going to hire the one with the certification because that makes sense.”
She also encourages students to build relationships with people working in their field. Through her involvement with the local Society for Human Resource Management chapter, CMU students have opportunities to attend monthly meetings, connect with HR professionals throughout the Grand Valley and learn about potential career paths.
Those relationships often extend beyond graduation. Three of her former students currently serve on the local chapter’s board of directors, including one who is serving as president-elect.
For her, helping students establish those connections is especially important as artificial intelligence (AI) and automated hiring systems become more common.
“Trying to get them to see that those personal connections are really where they get the best jobs is really important,” Sanders Via said.
While she recognizes the growing role of AI in business, Sanders Via also emphasizes the importance of knowing when and how to use it. In her courses, students have opportunities to practice using AI tools, including exercises that simulate salary negotiations, while developing knowledge and judgment they’ll need in professional settings. That balance is particularly important in human resources, where understanding people is just as essential as understanding business operations.
“I always say if you have a head for business and a heart for people, then HR might be the field for you,” Sanders Via said. “AI can do a lot of things for us, but it can’t replace our hearts and it can’t replace our empathy for other people.”
Seeing former students put her lessons into practice has been one of the most rewarding parts of teaching. Many have established careers throughout the Grand Valley, and some return to CMU as guest speakers to share their experiences with current students.
“It’s just amazing to watch it happen and watch their maturity as I get to continue working with them,” Sanders Via said. “They stop being students and become colleagues.”
For someone who has spent much of her career helping people learn how to navigate the workplace, watching her students find their place in it is especially rewarding. As those former students return to share what they’ve learned, they become part of the education path for the next generation of business professionals.